Jump to content
Search In
  • More options...
Find results that contain...
Find results in...

pritch

Super Moderators
  • Content count

    6381
  • Joined

  • Last visited

About pritch

  • Rank
    Super Moderator

Recent Profile Visitors

The recent visitors block is disabled and is not being shown to other users.

  1. pritch

    If I ever get healthy...a convention question

    The answer is yes I would, but I'm in the UK so as others have said that's probably a no-go. More importantly, if it's something you want to do, just do it anyway. One of the important things in the process of getting better (and you will get better) is having things to look forward to and work towards - sounds like you're already thinking this way. I agree Quakecon is a natural fit too, I think there's almost certainly going to be fans of yours there, even if they don't already know it, if they're of a certain age they will soon realise it once a few tracks are played!
  2. pritch

    Essential stuff for fans of Lee Jackson

    ROTTexpr was actually the first one I tried, compiled and tried site license exe first and then commercial but whichever I ran, just a split second working wheel then exit with nada. Could be anything with Windows, I may try it on the ubuntu machine, assuming I can ever find it (still packed from moving) and update the libs. I've never been that fussed about the feel shifting towards modern ports as long as the basic look and gameplay experience remain unchanged, be it ROTT or Doom etc. I've always felt it more important that it feels matched to the setup I'm playing it on today, with resolutions and peripherals etc. well supported, and stable ofc. Case in point - recently found out that an old favourite of mine, Klingon Honor Guard (which I believe was the first commercial release that actually used the Unreal engine, ahead even of Unreal itself) had been refreshed to use DX11 and modern resolutions, including my ultrawide. It looks great, but it's otherwise untouched, and the same runaway loop crash I used to get at the end of Map 08 ~twenty years ago, I'm still getting now :D
  3. pritch

    Essential stuff for fans of Lee Jackson

    Um, Mr Jackson, as the composer of many of the greatest soundtracks of my youth, I hereby request and require you to take care of yourself! Seriously, I'm very sorry to hear that you've been in the wars so much of late, and I wish you all the very best for improvements / speedy recovery. I was excited to pick up the Apogee Throwback pack in the Steam sale at Christmas, less excited to see it try to run in Dosbox on a modern system, but then very excited to download WinRott and find it to be much better than some comments had suggested; (NB to all ROTT fans, Birger Andreasen has recently (Oct '22) released a major update to WinRott and you should all download 1.78 from http://www.riseofthetriad.dk/DL_GlROTT.htm - the only issue I've had so far was with the first boss causing a crash - keep a few staggered savegames on the go) To be able to play ROTT properly for the first time in.. decades, and to hear that full soundtrack again in context has been such a delight, Lee. "Task force" was used in a zdaemon CTF map pack circa early 2000s, amongst other Doom PWADs, and when I heard it it immediately took me back to those late nights playing CTF... Your music is so evocative and I thank you for it.
  4. I always have a controversial answer to this question. TNT Map 20 - Central Processing. Followed by TNT Map 12 and 31. Honorable mention to 07. I really loved TNT and these were the maps I played over and over (via passkey "save and load") when Final Doom was released on the Playstation, before I got my first PC (I had first played Doom in '94 on PC but wouldn't get my own machine for another four years). Crater (map12 on PC) was on the PS version and I loved its non-linear layout and mining theme, with watery underground passages cutting through the map and making it feel genuinely three dimensional. When I finally got Final Doom on PC, via the id anthology, it sealed the deal. I find the Evilution maps really atmospheric and unique. They were more mature, more sci-fi than Doom 2, more like the original game .. evolved, which I suppose was the point, and that appealed to me as a kid, and still does. They are also a bit nuts - map 20 doesn't make much sense thematically, but it has a kind of architectural grandeur - it's a much longer, bigger map than pretty much anything from the previous games. I enjoy the distinct sectioning and the long paths around barbed wire fences in the final stages. Map21 has that feel, too, when it breaks out into the final grand arena. The sky texture and music are spot on, and same goes for map 31. These maps felt like epics back in the day. I look at Pharaoh and can't help but think it must've inspired Kim André Malde's Misri Halek, for me possibly the greatest map ever made. They have since, of course, been surpassed in most ways by third party megawads, but they were really great maps in 1996 and I'm still very fond of them so many years later.
  5. I finished playing through last night (NB - the pre 2.0 release). 12 hours of good solid Doom in total for me. I liked the variety of things you tried throughout; it's not easy after 25 years to carve more out of the gameplay side of vanilla Doom but you managed it with some nifty movement-based work for progression and secrets, and also with the concept of not waking monsters. Map06 got my attention, and I really liked maps 11 and 13 too. The secrets throughout were great - I got most of them because I'm a seasoned player but some I had to go looking for, and a few I couldn't get this time around - perfect: as it should be. I thought the finish and looks of the maps improved into the second half of the set, and there are some really great maps there, starting with 16 which I think is sort of a complete Doom map - a progression through hazardous acid areas, plenty of monster challenge but also some risk and reward, and a novel barrel trap to escape from (took me a good few minutes even with saves!). I felt achievement completing maps like this, marking my secrets caches and trying to hold out to take the bonuses forward to the next levels. The use of crush to exits probably divides opinion, but I applaud your use of it. What it can do, used appropriately, is bring a new dynamic to a map within a megawad. I enjoyed Map27 in and of itself, but starting it with 1 health gave the design and choices so much more impetus. Trepidation is a key part of any scary FPS. Map28 was probably my favourite. I thought your industrial design cues flowed on from 16 et al and really flourished here. An innovative layout with a great start, rich middle and challenging conclusion. Could I grab the invuln and make it last all the way to the megasphere taking out the monsters? Just about - very satisfying! I ran the last part until I got the infighting done to my satisfaction. Anything I didn't like? Not much. I wasn't crazy about the secret levels - without giving spoilers away I like the concept with 32, but I felt it needed a little more - my personal opinion is getting to 32 needs to be difficult and rewarding in equal measure. And again, I like the concept with map30 and welcome the change, but I'd still like to see some kinda grand finale - a bigger monster count during the final escape maybe. Overall though the map set grew on me as I played through and I think it's a great piece of individual work, and quite esoteric both stylistically and in gameplay mechanics. It's Doom for Doomers - a welcome addition to the pantheon of work of the mapping community.
  6. pritch

    What was your first DOOM experience?

    The forum is ~twenty years old; an ancient thread on the same subject shouldn't necessarily preclude a new one. I first played Doom in '94 on vacation in Canada. We were staying with my mum's cousin, who ran an IT business at the time. Back home we had no PC and I hadn't used one before, school still used Acorn machines. I was eleven. My second cousin was about eight years older than me and proficient, even mapping with what I guess was DoomEd or maybe DEU. I could barely play and needed the cheats on but I was instantly hooked, p. much for life. I'm sure I should've seen even more of Canada, but I played a lot of Doom. Coming back home after those few weeks was what I imagine coming off a drug must be like. I was used to 8-bit games on Sega, this experience was mind-blowing in comparison. I even dreamed about Doom for a while. I had to wait two years before I could play again, and had PSX Doom before we had a PC at home. I wore my PSX out playing Doom on it.
  7. pritch

    GZDoom secret stutter

    Apologies if this has been asked before - I found a similar issue on search but not quite as specific as my issue. The first secret I reveal in a GZDoom session causes a noticeable stutter, of random duration from up to about a second. After that I have no such stutter with any future secret reveals, so I'm guessing it must be a loading sound resource issue? Any clues as to what can alleviate it? I use the doom software renderer and OpenAL.
  8. pritch

    SIGIL v1.21 - New Romero megawad [released!]

    I'm excited for Sigil now, I've been watching a ton of Carmack and Romero vids on youtube all week...
  9. Awesome work, and bowling barons is a whole new meme..
  10. pritch

    Hobbies to fend off stir-craziness

    Get a hobby-grade radio controlled vehicle, probably a truck or buggy to begin with. It gets you out exercising and the maintenance / driving has a lot of skills in common with video games. There's great online and local communities in the hobby.
  11. Ostensibly true, but don't underestimate the increasing potential for making collective poor decisions the bigger the company gets. When id was what it was at Doom's release, you probably could've had a conversation with Jay Wilbur and worked something out in writing in hours. At a company the size of Beth/Zenimax, the lawyers and senior management probably don't even share a vision of what the company owns or should own, or what is important to protect / not protect. Ultimately senior management tend to defer to the lawyers over IP, because it's safer, and the lawyers, in my experience anyway, tend to want to take the initiative wherever possible, both to make money and justify their position / existence, and to preclude any charge of having failed to act should something hit the fan down the line. Once a company has scaled like Beth/Zenimax, you have to give up the idea of finding a voice of reason and basically prepare for the worst case scenario if you have interactions with them. The fact that fans hate the kind of shit that goes with a software company growing and becoming acquisitive matters almost zero to said company by the time it has grown to this size (*Ahem*, EA sports...)
  12. Responding point for point; We're literally growing old with this issue. How have you tried to contact them? Is it still Marv? I'm wondering if there's another way to get hold of them or better yet some kind of carrot we can dangle in front of their noses that'll motivate them. Could we make them a cash offer and crowdfund it on here? Agreed, and why it's best to avoid any words using content from the franchise. I agree the Cacoworld suggestion is the best compromise we've seen in this regard. Do you really want to do this, though? Do you need to do this? Surely going down this route might activate the kind of attention from vested interests re: point 2 that we absolutely want to avoid? Is that likely? This website and what it's based on predates those things. Assuming yes it is still really a problem, does solving point 1 leave us any better off? If no, then solving point 1 is kind of irrelevant as we're vulnerable to Doomworld usage in popular culture anyway? As above Without wanting to get all Yoda on you, only you can answer this question. But I think you've kind of answered your own question, so no, it probably isn't fair that you go on in this limbo. I hate the idea of losing the dw name (have we considered just using some form of dw, accepting dw is taken - dw1993.com??) but if it came down to it, of course I'd rather see you in control with a different domain name. I actually think the site has kept up well; the structure has been simplified and it all displays properly on modern devices. What's not fair to us? Ok there's a few stubborn bugs, but whatever. The site serves its purpose and anything more would be marginal gains. I think this point really goes back to the one above - is it actually fair on you? If this lack of motivation is actually pissing you off then yes, it's time to do something about it. If I can do anything, PM me or something.
  13. pritch

    Sunlust

    I can't in all conscience not give Sunlust 5 stars. This was my first run through, I'm late to the party but don't have as much time for Doom nowadays. But if something like this were released every week, I'd probably never play any other game again. I've gotten so used to playing such great maps and megawads created by this community that I can honestly say commercial games routinely feel lacklustre in comparison. And these are free - the best things in life truly are. Sunlust isn't perfect. I dislike the glut of killed-to-end maps in the late teens and twenties - I think once an episode is enough to rebuild from a pistol start, especially when most of the weapons are given to you anew quite quickly due to the difficulty. I do get it though - the mappers want that BFG back at times, to force you to do it the hard way. I personally don't like too many maps that prevent you backtracking for health or armor that you save for later. Some of the later maps are, in my opinion, a bit too hard, and a bit too hit-switch-for-slaughter, too soon. Some of them are only average for design and visual appeal and I dropped below 60fps in places with a relatively fast CPU. These, though, are minor niggles in context. This is a great mapset, and in particular one of, if not the best map 30s I've ever played. Map 30s are usually so constrained by the need to have a demon spitter - it's just not a very good final boss and we've seen every variation on a demon spitter map under the sun now. Far better to do a grand set piece finale with a four figure monster count - and that's what we get here. The final arena when the lost souls spawn above the main battle is visually one of the most impressive experiences I can remember in years of playing thousands of wads. It's not just the final arena - the entire map has a deeply impressive and imposing ambience and deceptively simple yet awesome architecture. It was a fitting end to a great set. Too many good maps to state them all. I guess a special mention to map 13 - I love the flow and feel of this one, and it has a banging track. The music is very good throughout, and feels tailored to a lot of the maps. They modified one of the PSX Doom tracks for map30 and it is just perfect. 4.9/5 then - I wish they'd do it all over again...
  14. pritch

    Nvidia launches RTX 2000 series

    I share those concerns, but I had to ditch them in order to be able to afford a half decent card these days. Well, actually I could afford a brand new 2080Ti if I truly valued it enough, but I have a house to renovate etc. and truth be told I cannot ever see myself being someone who spends more than 300 on a card - and I'm only up to 180 so far. I just don't like the new retail prices so that's pushed me into used. The 970 HOF I bought used is about 50-70% faster than a 1050Ti and was about the same price when I did this. I'd have had to get the 1060 6GB at double the price, just to get a small boost in performance over the 970. So it was an easy decision. For me, performance beats age, hands down. There isn't enough of a technical difference between the 9 and 10 series cards in games to warrant placing the premium on the newer series now. With the 20 series that remains to be seen - but it's still going to be quite some time before that's a genuine concern, and you'd be looking to a newer card by then anyway. As a rule, the top models in a generation hold their value best over the long term - I wouldn't pay retail for an entry level card that's about to be superseded. That's going to go down in value a lot when the 2050Ti or whatever it ends up being called is released. If you really wanted a new card, that's what I'd wait for now - the price difference won't be as sharp as we've seen on the high end cards - Nvidia has to make something in the line-up affordable, even if it's, say, $50 more than the 1050 was. I'm glad I bought used though - I had to clean the dust out of it but I knew this from the listing. Same rules as with anything used - make sure it's clear photos of the actual item for sale, best if it has its original box etc. and the seller has provided decent info. And if you don't like it walk away from it - there will be plenty of fish to choose from as people start to upgrade to the 20xx series. No that's a pretty good analogy, really. That would be awesome - tbh I was amazed SLI / Crossfire ever worked at all given what was actually going on at an API and hardware level - the potential for error just seemed so huge. Doing it like this would be a really cool prospect. If multi-GPU can make a case for a second coming, it'll be really interesting to see what that'll do to hardware prices. We saw even with SLI's limitations that an optimised game could run equal or better on two substantially cheaper mid-range GPUs than an expensive single card. If this functions as you describe, that difference could be even more marked. Cynical as I am, in this scenario I couldn't see Nvidia pricing its premium single card solutions out of the market! First time around with SLI adoption levels were always low, and problems numerous and Nvidia knew this. They kept plugging SLI because they knew it wouldn't really harm top-end sales. If it works much better all round in future, multi-GPU could become much better adopted. It would be interesting to see if the lower cards either saw a price rise or their performance cut back relative to the difference between models in previous series to compensate, and thus force the price / performance ratio to parity.
×